Lynn Takes his Globalization and the Future of the Defense Industry Message to TV

LYNN TAKES HIS GLOBALIZATION AND THE FUTURE OF THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY MESSAGE TO TV

ARLINGTON, VA, July 6, 2014 -- DRS Technologies and Finmeccanica North America CEO Bill Lynn joined Vago Muradian on his television program, Defense News with Vago Muradian, this month to discuss globalization and the defense industry, an issue that has been receiving a significant amount of attention recently.

Lynn has been a leading voice in this conversation in an effort to show how the Pentagon can benefit from the broader technology investment and breakthroughs of commercial and international firms.

The show highlighted a new report by the Center for a New American Security on the future of the defense industry that was co-chaired by Lynn and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, Adm. James Stavridis, which said the U.S. military and its main suppliers must globalize and adopt more commercial practices to stay competitive.

Lynn told Murdian that globalization is altering the defense industry in much the same way it has revamped other businesses, for example, the Pentagon has been a technology exporter of transformational capabilities like GPS and the initial internet developments to the commercial sector. Today, it is increasingly becoming an importer of the technological advances taking place all around us.

In an effort to show where the defense industry is compared with the tech industry, Lynn said there are no defense companies among the top 20 industrial research and development spenders worldwide and that company-funded R&D budgets of the top five U.S. defense contractors combined still would not put defense into the top 20.

You can watch the Defense News segment with Lynn here. And to read more about the Center for a New American Security report, called “Creative Disruption: Technology, Strategy, and the Future of the Global Defense Industry,” click here.